Somewhere between Watt running a 4.8 in the 40 and posting 37 inches in the vertical jump, both of which were remarkable for a 6-foot-5, 290-pound man, Rex Ryan walked over with an idea.

Watt told the story last week:

“He kind of real casually goes, ‘Hey man, you’re going to be gone by the time we get to pick, so here’s what we’re doing. We’re going to put a fake medical report that you have some sort of disease, I don’t know what, but we’ll make one up. And then we’ll draft you.’ ”

Watt loved the humor, as well as the compliment. But when Ryan thinks back, and he sees what the Texans star has become, maybe he is thinking something else.

Maybe he’s thinking he should have been serious about the disease thing — and this would have little to do with the combine itself.

Ryan coached the Jets in 2011. And drafting 30th that spring, far below where the Texans took Watt at No. 11, he ended up with a solid defensive end. Muhammad Wilkerson leads the Jets in sacks this season.

Watt, however, has proven to be something else entirely. During the past five weeks, for example, Watt has had more sacks than all of Ryan’s Bills put together.

Ryan, who coaches today against Watt, understands. He says Watt is “probably the top player in the league.”

But Ryan also doubts Watt will be named the NFL’s MVP because he plays defense, and Ryan is right. If Watt couldn’t be the MVP last season, when his scoring drew so much attention, what chance does he have now when he merely leads the league in sacks?

Tom Brady is a more likely choice again. So is Cam Newton, another from the 2011 draft.

Given that, Watt will have to settle for his third defensive player of the year award. And after last month, when Houston’s defense allowed only 8.8 points a game, he’s in line.

So back to the combine and Ryan’s idea to leak a fake medical report. Did Ryan see this coming?

“I knew he was a great player back then,” Ryan said. “But he’s even exceeded that, you know, now.”

Watt’s size and speed has allowed that to happen. But the quality that separates him from others is one that a combine would be pressed to ever reveal. Try measuring passion with a stopwatch.

“The thing that always impresses me about him is how hard he plays the game and the level of work ethic that he brings every day to the building,” Bill O’Brien said last week of Watt. “This play versus that play, I don’t know. It’s just the consistency of his work ethic and his level of play is pretty impressive.”

Few have this kind of drive, and an example will also be in Buffalo today. Houston knows this story, too.

When Mario Williams went to the combine in 2006, he wasn’t listed as a candidate to go first overall to Houston. But, according to an ESPN article then, “He saw his stock soar after his amazing performance at the NFL combine in February.

Williams’ combine numbers were even better than Watt’s. But the next paragraph in that ESPN article was this:

“There were some questions about his work ethic after getting sacks in 11 of his last 23 games, but he has the potential to dominate.”

Williams showed that potential in Houston, as well as in Buffalo. He has a career sack total approaching 100, and he was an All-Pro selection last season.

But the Texans let Williams go to Buffalo in what was then the largest contract in league history for a defensive player. And now the same is happening again. A Buffalo columnist wrote recently that “the end is near for Mario

Williams as a Bill” because, essentially, his output doesn’t match the dollars.

The contract that Watt signed last season is slightly more than Williams’. No one suggests Watt is not earning it.

“I love the way he plays,” Ryan continued last week. “I mean, he’s taking over games.”

What they measured at the combine said that was possible. What they couldn’t measure made it happen.